The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-05-11
THEG. A. R. INDICATED
Address of General ]. M. Tuttie, Com
mander of the Department
of Iowa,
On the Occasion OF Reception ut
Des MOines, on the 23d or
April.

CoaRADEs: thank you for your kind well
come and hearty congratulations upon my be-
ing placed again in command OF the Iowa bat
talions, when il seems to be necessary for the
Grand Army OF the Republic To defend itself
and resent the foul insinuations and charges OF
those who have always been our enemies, Doth
during the war ana since its close. This de-
Tense seems to be necessary from the fact that
young men are coming upon the stage OF action
who are not acquainted personally, ana many
older men have apparently forgotten the spirit
that actuated the volunteers and their nigh
character as men of veracity, integrity, ana
patriotism, ana who are now our leading men
in all the walks of life. When these men vol
unteered they knew not what pay they were 10
receive, they asked no questions about II, they
did not care apparently whether they were
paid or not Nothing of n mercenary character
entered their minds. The shareholders had
rebelled and they fastened To I'LL up the
ranks to put them down. They accepted their
small compensation without IA murmur They
performed their duty like honest men, ana de-
serve the treatment that should be awarded 10
honest men now After the var had been going
on for year or two we heard that there were
men in the North showing disposition to dis
courage us and sympathize with our enemies.
called us hrelings and mercenaries, and did
everything they could to discourage enlist
ments to fill up our decimated ranks. They
held public meetings, and declared the war
failure, and resolved that the South never could
be conquered, and that armies should be
withdrawn. We paid no attention to this hre
in the rear, we did not appreciate their strength
nor attach as much Importance to their move
ments as it deserved as we have found out
since. we knew Inut we were flBnI, Lnub We
were fighting in a just cause, and pushing our
bayonets into, the heart of the monster re-
bellion, and did not stop to hear or care what
was being said at our backs. We fought the
enemy with zeal, courage, and integrity. We
conquered them after many OF us had lost our
lives, and many others had been crippled for
life or lost their health beyond recovery, and
when returned home received the
praises OF all. The enemy in arms had sur
rendered. and their sympathizers doomed it
prudent TO remain silent. None had the temerity
then to ANYTHING to discreuit
Years passed and we found many OF our COM
rades worthy, honest men and brave soldiers,
whose health had been ruined by hard marches
and exposure both in the field and in the prison
pens of the South, totally disabled from earn
ing living but who found IL impossible TO pro-
duce the evidence, either on account OF the
death OF their officers or comrades who had
knowledge of the commencement of their dis
abilities, to prove to the Pension Department
that they had been disabled I'm the service.
The Grand Army of the Republic, knowing
their deserts, took up their cause and asked
Congress to pass n general bill allowing all
soldiers now disabled and unable 10 earn liv-
ing regardless OF how or when such disability
had been incurred, that would secure them the
money that honestly BELONGED to them. Con-
gress passed a bill substantially in compliance
with our request, with great unanimity, for
which those who voted for it have our sincere
thanks The President vetoed the BILL and in
giving his reasons for doing SO stated that our
army had been well paid, and he thought that
enough had been done for them in the way OF
pensions. And in concluding his reasons for
vetong the bill stated that to allow il TO pass
would increase perjury and encourage dis
honesty"
In other words, that we are oil liars and per-
iurers, as well as mendicants, and are not to be
trusted nor believed when would give evil
dence in favor OF our disabled comrades. His
principal organ in the West defended the veto
and repeated all the vile names and insinua-
tions against US, calling US names that It would
not do TO repeat TO polite audience, and said :
The action OF the President in veoting this in
famous bill would suppress that unmitigated
nuisance, the Grand Army Of the Republic"
That editor was never moro mistaken in his
life. The Grand Army OF the Republic can no
more be suppressed now than when they met
the armed rebels in the field 1 think If the
President and that editor had been at Dubuque
this week they would have concluded that our
suppression was not yet accomplished. They
would have seen thousands of honest, earnest
and intelligent men who had all risked their
lives to save their country, and all, regardless
of party ties condemning their actions and
words in language not 10 be misunderstood
| They were the representatives OF $4,000 voters
| in the State Of Iowa; were old soldiers with
! good records, determined TO vindicate and have
! Justice done 10 their old comrades, where need
| ing assistance. All were indignant at the veto
! message and the approving article in the Chi
cagO newspaper.
There are men in all political parties seeking
| Office and asking the sutfrages OF their fellow
! citizens They have pronounced the soldier
| question chestnut, that the old soldiers have
/ had enough, that they ask too much that it is
time for them to take a back seat in the con-
! duct of affairs. We don't think so. We pro-
! pose to organize more thoroughly than ever
| We intend to recruit fast possible all the
| old soldiers of Iowa and ask them to join our
| organization and stand with us in defense Of
our honor and integrity, and woe be to the as
piring politician, regardless OF party, who can
| not convince that he is the soldiers true
friend. We are told, and ii is true, that some
soldier Congressman voted for the bill and
| afterward voted to sustain the veto. Some sol
diers never had their hearts in our cause and
il is not surprising that few of them have got
ten TO Congress. Thank God, none Of our Iowa
Congressman made such a record. There never
Int had fta fruft 49,
cause is not an exception. Party politics in
| our organization, as you all are well aware, is
strictly prohibited, but do not regard our rules
| to prohibit US from defending ourselves when
! attacked organization and comrades
traduced and vilihed and their character for
} veracity and integrity questioned by the high
| est officer ia our land.
think this is no moro OF q political speech
than one Imade TO the Iowa boys when stand
ing in line OF battle at Shiloh, and the enemy
rapidly approaching in their front. Riding
along the lines L urged them to stand your
ground. take good aim, and fire low, and re-
! member the record of Iowa soldiers at Wilson s
Creek and Fort Donelson." That was a short
speech and might now be considered political,
but il had the effect at the time, perhaps, OF
| giving the boys confidence, and may have had
something TO do with causing them to make
their position to be called by the rebels the
hornets nest"
In Andersonville Prison in August 1864 were
confined $1,000 Union soldiers, suffering all the
| pangs OF torment, sick and starving, anxious to
SEQ their homes and their families suffering
and punishments as great or greater almost
any savage nation on earth would inflict. Dy-
| ing at the rate of ten per cent. each month,
| thousands OF them unable to rise to their feet
In this fearful emergency agents of the rebel
| government approached them with liberty and
| plenty to eat IL they would take tho oath of
| allegiance to the Confederacy, and money
| bounty il they would enlist in their
armies. Out OF all that number they
| found but seventy men who would
thus forswear their cause and desert thoir flag.
and rather than do so they stayed and died al
thedate OF over hundred each day-and those
whose lives were saved are yet physical wrecks
( almost to a man, and entirely unable, in conse-
quence OF being i'm rebel prison, Of proving
that they got their disabilities in the service
Were they mercenaries, hirelngs. dishonest
men, and not TO be trusted? 1 think not.
would rather trust them on oath than the Presi-
dent or editor before mentioned Men possess
ing the integrity that they showed there are
worthy TO bo trusted anywhere and under al
circumstances DIR. Frisbie speaks of higher
powers. ask no higher power than to DO in
command of all the soldiers OF Iowa. / care
not what regiments they served I'm they are al
Iowa soldiers now. Our State made glorious
record during the The troops OF no State
in the Union made a better one They were
conspicuous in all the great battles of the West
and we that went from the then young State OF
Iowa are proud OF the record that not poor
regiment went from the State. Many OF these
soldiers have left the State, and many others
come i'm their places and we are now all